Franklin Hall (Earth-11584)
History "You...you made me into this freak...and you are going to pay for ruining my life. You're going to pay ten times over!" '''Dr. Franklin Hall '''was an American-Canadian scientist born just outside of Toronto. Hall was the son of a Canadian Ethics professor and an American businessman, and as such had dual citizenship between the two countries. As a young man Hall was enthralled by the tales of scientists like Carl Sagan, Albert Einstein and Howard Stark. He made it his life's goal to be an esteemed scientist like all of them, and studied hard, forsaking most other human connections in terms of being a workaholic. Though he achieved good grades at university and eventually finished his doctoral thesis of gravitational waves, Hall would fail to make an immediate impact on the world of science like his heroes did, and had to settle with mundane work in research and development for Stark Industries. Growing increasingly despondent and dissatisfied with his work, Hall stumbled upon a find in early research from Henry Pym in the sixties, concerning subatomic particles. He expanded on this from classified research done by Bill Foster in subsequent years, and began to test out theories on certain subatomic particles and their impacts on our environment. He became one of the leading minds concerning quantum mechanics and particle physics, using high-energy particle accelerators to attempt to find both the Higgs Boson (which gave particles mass) and the even more elusive graviton, which conveyed the properties of gravity. Like everything else, Hall threw himself into his work, and before long he theorized that Vibranium would hold they key to unlocking the mystery of the particle. Through surreptitious means, Hall obtained a small sample of Wakandan vibranium and sought to use it in his experiments. Things might have gone smoothly for the good doctor, had he not been conducting his experiments at the same time as the Thunderbolts were fighting and apprehending the fugitive Taskmaster. Damage was done to a power station feeding the particle accelerator, which caused a premature shutdown. Hall rushed into the firing line to try and save the Vibranium, when the power suddenly cut on and Hall was bombarded by high energy magnetic beams and, unknowingly to him, gravitons, knocking him unconscious. When he came too a couple of days later, he discovered that he could control the gravity of objects around himself. He viewed this as an affront to his normal worldview, and lost his grip on reality (a grip that had been lessened due to the proven deletrious effects of subatomic particles, on occasion). Learning of the Thunderbolts role in his transformation, Hall named himself after the subatomic particle he had been chasing his whole life and sought revenge, nearly killing the super team in their first encounter. Hall had to withdraw before he could deliver the final blow, however, as his powers began to grow beyond his control. Hall sought to try and control his powers by finishing his experiments, thinking that further exposure to gravitons could stabilize his condition. However doing so would have likely caused his powers to exponentially grow and could possibly tear the whole planet apart in the process. Thankfully, Graviton was stopped by the Thunderbolts in their second encounter, as Hall eventually was killed due to overuse of his power being turned on himself, causing his eventual destruction. Powers & Abilities * Gravity Control: Due to exposure to gravitons, the particle which conveys gravity at a quantum level, Dr. Hall gained a near mastery over the force of Gravity. He could increase or decrease the gravity around an object at will, send forth concussive blasts of gravitational waves and compact the air around him in terms of density to create force fields. Hall's powers also continued to grow exponentially, potentially affecting things on a cosmic scale had they been allowed to grow further. Weaknesses Hall saw his powers as making him a freak, effectively driving him insane. He thus had limited control over his powers and could not harness them to their full potential. Nevertheless, he could have easily become a threat to destroy the earth, willingly or otherwise, had he been allowed to have his powers grow. Film Details Graviton appears in the following films in the Earth-11584 continuity. In all cases he is portrayed by actor Will Smith. * Thunderbolts (2013) * Ant-Man (2015) only Category:Earth-11584 Category:Earth-11584 Characters Category:Bad Characters